Are Organization Rational?
Introduction
There are two meanings of rationality. The first one is formal rationality, which means doing the things in the right -the most rational- ways. The second one is substantive rationality, which means doing the right -most rational- things.
This essay will illustrate the rationality of organization by looking at the management theories used by the organization. To do this, first of all definition of organization and the importance of management theories to organization will be given. After that, three types of management will be discussed, which are traditional model, human relations model and human resources model. Finally the essay will end with a conclusion.
What is Organization?
Clear explanation of organization can be found in ‘Organization Strategy, Structure and Process’ (1978). An organization is both an aim, and a process to achieve the aim. For most organizations, whatever what aims do they have, adapting themselves to the change of environment is the dynamic process and the key of survival and expansion. To overcome the three main problems the of organizational adaption, i.e. entrepreneurial problem, engineering problem and administrative problem, different patterns of behavior are used by organization, which are defenders, prospector, analyzer and reactor (Miles, Snow, Meyer and Coleman, 1978).
Another meaning of organization is given by Zenger, Lazzarini, and Poppo(2002). Organization can be dived into formal and informal. Formal organization is officially rules that are written in documents or executed through formal position, which control people’s actions and behaviors. Informal organization is unofficially rules that are understood and accepted by people but no...
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...re not important and only the output and result should be taken care, example is the scientific management.
References:
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Miles, R.E., Snow, C.C., Meyer, A.D., & Coleman, H.J. (1978). Organizational strategy, structure, and process. Academy of management review, 3(3), 546-562.
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Taylor, F. W. (2013). Scientific management. Routledge.
Organizational structure is one of the three key organizational assets that could contribute to the effectiveness of operations of any organization (Zheng, Yan and Mclean 2009) It is joined together by different flows of information, decision processes, hierarchy of authority, specialization and working materials. (Enz 2009; Mintzberg 1980) Furthermore, it also determines the operating workflow, control of information, decision-making in the organization and the line authority (Mintzberg 1980). The facets of the organizational structure, the relationships that exist within it, and how the business processes (Bititci et al 2011) are controlled, determine the managerial style that should be utilized in addition to the strategies the organization could implement. Going further, a company’s organizational design and the parts that constitute it are seen as a contributing factor to superior performance, which ultimately provide an organization with competitive advantage over its competitors. (Enz 2009; Zheng, Yang, and Mclean 2009)
Thompson, A. A., Strickland, A. J., & Gamble, J. E. (2008). Crafting & executing strategy: The quest for competitive advantage (16th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Mullins, L. J. (2005). Management and organizational behavior (7th ed.). Harlow, England: Prentice Hall/Financial Times.
“ Organizations are collectivities oriented to the pursuit of relatively specific goals and exhibiting relatively highly formalized social structures” (page 29). The rational system is a group of individuals, bound together as an organization, designed to reach predetermined goals. The rational system models sees organizations as a mechanical model. A machine that has multiple parts that also works individually but also work together for the better good of the whole. All the individuals of the group can be replaced with a new one if it doesn’t meet the standards of
Shaw, W. & Barry, V. (2010). Moral issues in business (11th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage
In business, management can be defined as (1) the pursuit of organizational goals efficiently and effectively by (2) integrating the work of people through (3) planning, organizing, leading and controlling the organization's resources. Management is a theory and a way of doing business. It is a process that is exercised in order for an organization to be successful. This process is generally broken down into four established functions: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Management is the function that determines how the organizations human, financi...
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However, some influential management authors believe that the classical management functions need to be update. Williams (2005, p. 7) updated the management functions and came out with four functions: making things happen; meeting the competition; organizing people, projects and process; and leading. To make things happen, it is essential to determine goals, planning ways to attain the goals, gathering and managing needed information to make superior decisions and also controlling performance to enable corrective action to take place if performance worsens. This function actually combined Fayol’s idea of planning and controlling. The thought of determining things to accomplish and developing plans to achieve goals is similar to function of planning suggested by Fayol, which is to define goals, establish strategy and develop plans to implement the strategy in order to reach the goals. Besides, Williams mentioned about controlling performance and corrective action, which is corresponding to Fayol’s classical management functions of controlling. Controlling, according to Fayol, involves observing organization performance and take action if necessary to ensure that goals are to be achieved. Nevertheless, the action of gathering and managing needed information to enable good decisions to be made is not stated in classical management functions. Based on the updated functions, organizing people, projects and processes included consideration of people issues and work processes. At the same time, Fayol mentioned organizing, which is the management process of determining best way to arrange organization’s resources and activities. They actually have the same meaning where both are about locating organization’s resources, which are the employees and also the work processes or activities. The Learning Company, a company that develops and markets games and software, was purchased by toy company Mattel. It was experiencing loss after three years of the purchase because each department in the company works independently and do not share resources.
Rational decision making is one of the most common problem solving methods and can be used to solve almost all problems. Rational decision making and problem solving processes can be explained in a logical manner. Effective leaders use rational decision making processes to identify the problem, think up solutions, evaluate alternatives along with select a solution, implement and evaluate the final solution. In rational decision making leaders analyze the problem to achieve the most efficient choice through different possible alternatives from different scenarios before making a selection.
Shaw, W. H., & Barry, V. (2011). Moral Issues in Business (Eleventh ed., pp. 230-244).
A strategy, according to Robbins and Barnwell (2002, p. 139) is “the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary to achieve the organisation’s goals”.
First of all, they criticise that Fayol’s theory is too formal to the extent of it can hardly be applied to informal organisations. His theory is too rigid and it will only shows its effectiveness in formal organisation structure.
Organizations are established in specific ways to obtain different objectives, and the structure of an organization can help or restrain its advance toward accomplishing these goals. Organizations of different sized and types can achieve higher sales and other profit adequately by identifying their requirements with the structure they use to operate.
Organizations must operate within structures that allow them to perform at their best within their given environments. According to theorists T. Burns and G.M Stalker (1961), organizations require structures that will allow them to adapt and react to changes in the environment (Mechanistic vs Organic Structures, 2009). Toyota Company’s corporate structure is spelt out as one where the management team and employees conduct operations and make decisions through a system of checks and balances.